The mum of a paranoid schizophrenic shot dead by police 15 years ago visits the Liverpool street where he was gunned down every six weeks - and hasn't missed a single trip.

Marie Kernan still makes a pilgrimage every month-and-a-half to the spot where her 37-year-old son Andrew was killed by a cop marksman.

The 74-year-old has never cancelled a visit, and even stuck to her arrangement when she lived in London for five years, after fleeing Merseyside to help her grief.

The recently-retired hospital worker leaves flowers on a wall close to the Wellington pub on the High Street in Wavertree where PC Michael Moore opened fire, hitting the unwell man twice with bullets.

It sparked a massive investigation, resulting in an lawful killing jury verdict at Andrew's inquest, and a police watchdog declaring the officer and the Merseyside force were not at fault for the fatal July 2001 shooting.

Marie, who has moved away from Wavertree and now lives in Everton, told the Liverpool Echo: "When I visit the wall, I put some flowers down in the waterpipe, and I say hello to him.

"I want people to still remember Andrew, and drivers still toot their horns when they see me."

Marie moved to London in 2003, staying there until 2008 when she felt the need once more to be closer to her son’s grave.

The ex-Royal Liverpool Hospital employee said: "After a couple of years, I couldn't relax in Liverpool.

"I was sitting on the wall at night where Andrew died, and taxi drivers were bringing me home.

Shot dead: Andrew Kernan was killed by police in Liverpool in 2001

"I didn't believe he was dead, I thought it wasn't real.

"When people were close to me at the scene, I was touching them to see if I was dreaming or not.

"I couldn't eat or sleep.

"People were so kind, even strangers, but I couldn't cope."

Marie, who has also worked at Stoke Mandeville Hospitall in Buckinghamshire and recalls seeing paedophile moster Jimmy Saville during her time there, added: "Eventually, I left London to come back to Liverpool to be close to Andrew again."

"I've never missed a trip to that wall, and I'll never miss one until I drop dead.

"I put birthday and Christmas cards down for my son.

"His death is something I'll never get over."

Two mental health nurses arrived at the Kernan flat on July 12, where his mum was standing at his bedroom door, preventing him from getting out, as he became increasingly agitated.

But they stepped away after Andrew allegedly threatened to cut their heads off.

Royal Liverpool Hospital (Photo: Getty)

Andrew emerged from the flat, and according to details from the inquest, he swung the blade at officers who had formed an L-shaped barricade in an attempt to keep him within a cordon.

'You're going to have to kill me or I'm going to have to kill you,' it is claimed he shouted at them.

Crowds of people had gathered to watch, close to the Wellington pub where it is reported staff locked the doors when they saw the commotion and a man wielding a sword.

Andrew, dressed in pyjamas and barefooted, slashed off a police car wing mirror, leading to 25 minutes of negotation with officers, and CS gas being deployed, with little effect, the court heard.

PC Moore fired two shots, the second hitting the mentally-ill man in the chest, and he died on the way to hospital.

At the inquest, he said in evidence: "I could not back off any further.

"I feared for the safety of the public behind me and also for myself.

"I felt I had been backed into a corner."

Marie recalls the moment Andrew was killed, when she was kept in a police patrol car, heard him shout ‘Mum!’, and then heard ‘bang, bang,’

She said: "I kept saying to police, 'eh, love, open the door.

"Afterwards, they took me to my brother Teddy's house and then I ended up in the Moat House that night.

(Photo: PA)

"I didn't know Andrew was dead.

"This summer, it'll be 15 years since this happened.

"I'll miss him until the day I die - he was a lovely son.

"Although he was ill, he certainly wasn't stupid.

"He'd passed his driving test."

Andrew led a normal life until he was 21, when he began having mood swings and developed schizophrenia.

His mum Marie became his carer for the next 16 years and they lived in a small two-bedroomed flat on Wellington Grove in Wavertree.